Major iron ore and manganese mines under scanner

Bhubaneswar: The Justice M B Shah Commission probing into the multi-crore mining scam on Thursday said most of the iron ore and manganese mines in Odisha would come under the purview of its investigation.

“The commission will verify records and probe into all the iron ore and manganese mines allocated since 1952 whether closed or in operational stage,” said U V Singh, the team leader and Principal Conservator of Forest in Karnataka.

Stating that about 186 to 195 mines will be under the scanner of the six-member team of the Commission, Singh said documents and records of at least seven mines have already been verified on the second day of the investigation during the day.

Besides officials of different mining circles, representatives of several private mining companies were also on Thursday summoned by the commission.

Refusing to divulge the commission’s finding so far, Singh said the commission had been looking into different aspects like violations under forest, environment (air and water), mines and other related laws.

The team would like to make a deep study of the mining activities in the state, he said, adding, it might visit certain mines if required during the investigation. The team is likely to stay in the state till October 11, he said.

The commission, appointed by the Centre, had been probing mining scams in different states and had visited Odisha in December last year. Justice Shah, however, is not part of the team this time.